Microscopes provide a means for viewing objects under varying levels of magnification. Earlier conventional microscopes were typically stand-alone devices so that all observations and manipulations of the microscope and the object being viewed were performed directly on the microscope. These conventional microscopes basically consisted of an eyepiece through which a specimen may be viewed, lenses that provided varying levels of magnification, a stage for holding a slide containing the specimen, a first mechanical means for moving the stage, and a second mechanical means for adjusting the magnification level in order to focus the lenses. The user would use these microscopes by first placing a specimen on a slide and attaching the slide to the stage of the microscope. The user would then use the first mechanical means to position the slide under the lenses, and use the second mechanical means to focus on and magnify a portion of the specimen.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,442 to Engelse et al. describes another conventional type of microscope configuration, in which a microscope is coupled with an image display system. The image display system includes a camera coupled to the microscope and a computer workstation. The computer workstation may include a monitor, a keyboard and a remote platform controller. In this configuration, the camera provides an image of the object being viewed on the microscope to the workstation. The user may then manipulate the remote platform controller at the workstation to move the platform on the microscope in order to change the view of the object displayed on the monitor of the workstation.
One common shortcoming in these conventional microscope systems is their limited field-of-view capabilities. A field-of-view is the total amount of an area of interest that these microscope systems allow the user to view at any given moment in time. In these conventional microscope systems, the field-of-view is limited to what could be seen through the microscope at any specific instant in time. To see other views of the area of interest, for example, an area to the left, to the right, above or below the current view, the user must either (i) reduce the lens magnification level or (ii) move the platform to obtain a different view. However, if the user reduces the lens magnification level, this necessarily reduces the amount of detail that can be seen. If the user moves the platform, the user can see a different view, but loses part of the original view (i.e., if the user moves the platform to the left a predetermined amount, then the user will no longer be able to see an amount of the original view corresponding to the movement to the left of the platform). Another common shortcoming is the lack of image enhancement capabilities of these conventional microscope systems. More particularly, conventional microscope systems are generally limited to capturing a magnified image of an object and providing the captured magnified image to an image display system for display.